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News Star Ocean The Second Story R (Switch /PS4+5/Steam), November 2, 2023, [Update]: Demo now available

Reader mode
This was such a pleasant surprise for me. SO2 was a big part of my childhood (I played it so much the jewel case fell apart, as did the strategy guide, haha). I love the look and the changes to the battle system sound really good. Can't wait.
 
Never played a Star Ocean but this game looks like it might be right up my alley. If only it didn't come out so close to SMRPG :')
 
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Amadeus said:


this is crazy
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Yikes at those anime character portraits. I’m really glad the new ones in Second Story R are closer to the original.

I actually kind of like the beautiful ugliness of the original game’s graphics though it also accentuates how good Second Story R looks.
 
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Is this game good? I never heard about this game, and I really liked the vibe of the trailer and the general aesthetic. Please someone sell this one to me :) What are the strengths of Star Ocean?
 
maniacmaison said:
Is this game good? I never heard about this game, and I really liked the vibe of the trailer and the general aesthetic. Please someone sell this one to me :) What are the strengths of Star Ocean?
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I need to start the first one which isn’t as deep apparently, but apparently 2 is considered the best cause it has 2 leads with completely different storylines that are influenced and altered depending on which party members you recruit to a major degree.
 
Have never played a Star Ocean game before, but I adore the look of this game. One of the first times in a while I felt like I was looking at something new.
 
KilgoreWolfe said:
This was such a pleasant surprise for me. SO2 was a big part of my childhood (I played it so much the jewel case fell apart, as did the strategy guide, haha). I love the look and the changes to the battle system sound really good. Can't wait.
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So many of the PS1 jewel cases fell apart for me, particularly the multi-disc ones. Weird the kind of things that stick in your mind about gaming- I remember every time I opened my copy of FFIX I was pouring out some broken plastic ‘teeth’
 
PixelKnight said:
So many of the PS1 jewel cases fell apart for me, particularly the multi-disc ones. Weird the kind of things that stick in your mind about gaming- I remember every time I opened my copy of FFIX I was pouring out some broken plastic ‘teeth’
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One of the weirder things that happened with my PS1 games was my copy of FFVIII one day mysteriously developing marks that looked like pen scribbles on the read side of the discs. My sister never admitted to vandalizing them so I have no idea what happened to them.
 
PixelKnight said:
So many of the PS1 jewel cases fell apart for me, particularly the multi-disc ones. Weird the kind of things that stick in your mind about gaming- I remember every time I opened my copy of FFIX I was pouring out some broken plastic ‘teeth’
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One of my discs from FF7 was scratched because of this. Those multi disc cases were def. not made for constant use
 
9-Volt said:
Good lord it looks delicious! Give the same treatment every PS1 classic, Square, especially... XENOGEARS!

Hopefully we'll get rest of the SO games on Switch too, no matter how mediocre they are.
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I was thinking that immediately when I saw this. Xenogears in this style would be something. Hopefully Takahashi has enough pull that he can convince Nintendo to work with Bamco and Squeenix to bring Xenogears and Xenosaga to Switch/Switch 2, etc. The recent announcements of Baten Kaitos and Super Mario RPG gives me hope!!
 
I think the game looks gorgeous, the artstyle is way more interesting than another 2DHD which I'm kinda tired of at this point.

Is the game itself any good? The graphics really grabbed my attention.
 
Cool that they’re calling this style it’s own thing. Means we might see more of these in the future.

HD2D and 3D2D can (and should) live happily side by side.
 
Leo said:
I think the game looks gorgeous, the artstyle is way more interesting than another 2DHD which I'm kinda tired of at this point.

Is the game itself any good? The graphics really grabbed my attention.
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If you've ever played a Tales game then imagine that with a sci-fi theme.
 
Leo said:
I think the game looks gorgeous, the artstyle is way more interesting than another 2DHD which I'm kinda tired of at this point.

Is the game itself any good? The graphics really grabbed my attention.
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Dunban said:
If you've ever played a Tales game then imagine that with a sci-fi theme.
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Add to the Tales of part a massive Item Creation system and Skills to use outside combat to make food, minerals, ask the Tri-A Gods for direction, tame an animal to bring you items in a dungeon or learn how to whisle to ride a massive bunny on the world map, or maybe learn how to pickpocket to steal items to every single NPC in the game including your own team when you do a Private Action in town (every team member then go explore the town freely and sometimes this can start one of their quest or change their affinity level), or maybe you want to cheat the system and buy an inn with illegal papers or sell dubious items, or maybe trick the game itself by using a Level Up permit.

EDIT :
Sorry if I repeat myself with the skills & item creation in SO 2 but I can't stress enough how excellent it is to mess with it. The game acknowledge it and let you go mad with it. Keep in mind that some actions (like failing to steal them) & skills can make your team likes you less and this will change their affinity and also their endings.

To my knowledge, SO 2 is the last game to allow such a massive freedom with the Item Creation & skills system. SO 3 & 4 have a NPC dedicated to item creation and it is quite limited compared to SO 2.
 
Barrel..... Colorful barrel........ Barrel barrel barrel BARREL BARREL

I used to be OBSESSED with this game back in the day. I still have my ancient PS1 copy and all. Definitely getting this remake. It looks good!
 
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This game looks amazing and might be just my thing. The realistic scenarios look absolutely stunning for a Switch game and this contrast of sprites/pixel art for characters on a 3D realistic world just makes it shine even more. This 2D x 3D better fruit more games just like 2D-HD did!!!

Also I like that it's Square publishing and it's lower price than the average, as that also allows for better sales whenever the game gets one. I probably will pick it up some day.
 
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Yamanoi said:
Not sure what platform to buy this one, but I want to get it day one.
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Same here, kinda conflicted. I just got my PS5 and SO 2 is at 50 euros on either PS4, PS5 and Switch in retail & digital. On one side, I‘d love to play SO 2 on the go. On the other side, 4K60 FPS HD 2D…
 
Koren Lesthe said:
Same here, kinda conflicted. I just got my PS5 and SO 2 is at 50 euros on either PS4, PS5 and Switch in retail & digital. On one side, I‘d love to play SO 2 on the go. On the other side, 4K60 FPS HD 2D…
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Maybe if they do a demo for it I can try and decide but after playing Octopath Traveler II and Live A Live on all platforms eventually, only way I will fully play an HD 2D game only on Switch is if it is timed exclusive. I can also play SO2 on Steam Deck where it will definitely be a lot better. Wish this had cross save so I could just play it on all

mQAAg4ro6OlXl8hvySnFoVGZwPxrLNU-xw3ctemxDhs.png


Edit: If it is something like Trials of Mana performance, I would likely play on PC unless the PS5 version here is better than Trials was on base PS4. It was fine on Pro / PS5 through bc.
 
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Yamanoi said:
I like the new portraits a lot. Old ones remind me of Tales of.
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Yeah, second evolution was def. banking on the tales look at the time. With that said it's interesting to see how Rena was kinda deaged in Second Evolution and now looks older in Second Story R than the original

yWeaUwy.jpg
 
I much prefer the new art to Second Evolution, it looks less flat and with a lot more detail added back in.
 
So I just bought Star Ocean (3) Till the End of Time on sale on PS5 because it's been about 18 years since I played it on PS2. I'm a couple hours in and man... I loved the game back in the day but it is definitely of that era of RPGs...

I wonder if I should try to force myself through it or do we think they'll tackle SO3 as a remaster eventually?
 
Scrawnton said:
So I just bought Star Ocean (3) Till the End of Time on sale on PS5 because it's been about 18 years since I played it on PS2. I'm a couple hours in and man... I loved the game back in the day but it is definitely of that era of RPGs...

I wonder if I should try to force myself through it or do we think they'll tackle SO3 as a remaster eventually?
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If that happens, hopefully the remove the MP dead, cause I'm not touching the game again after the hell it was in the ps2
 
Just read the text from the Steam page of Star Ocean: The Second Story R and got the following :
  • Non active characters can join in battle and unleash a special attack by doing so.
  • The combo system is richer.
  • While the story progression is exactly the same, new side quests have been added !
  • The original Japanese cast from the PS1 version will redo all the voices and dialogue, you will also be able to choose between it and the PSP US & Japanese voices. (thanks @Dunban )
  • Motoï Sakuraba is back with a vengeance. He grabbed all the sound team and sent them to Valhalla (he doesn't need a Valkyrie, even Odin fears him). Anyway, the complete OST have been fully reorchestrated and even added new exploration themes.
  • Just like recent Star Ocean games, you can choose your difficulty right at the start instead of having to first finish the game. The three difficulty settings are : Earth (NORMAL), Galaxy (ULTRA HARD) and Universe (LOL YOU DIED IN THE FIRST BATTLE). In classic Star Ocean fashion, the Galaxy setting sees all ennemies gets their stats multiplied by something like 1,5 and Universe by 2. Enjoy !
Happy reminder that the final boss is one of the hardest final boss ever. Sure there's strategies (some still worked in the PSP Remaster) but by following a certain sidequest, you can make the final boss even more powerful and allow him to move three times faster (I made my brother do this sidequest back then because I believed that it would make the boss weaker. Oh boi that was a mistake). And guess what ? There's a dozen hidden bosses and the final two make the final story boss look like a joke named the Iselia Queen and Gabriel Celeste who make cameos in various tri-Ace games (Valkyrie Profile, Infinite Undiscovery...).

I can't wait to go back to Expel and do so many stupid things with the Item Creation system.

Cannot Be Tamed did a nice retrospective of the PS1 game (Note : there is a spoiler warning for the events that happened at the midpoint of the game) :



EDIT :
Best addition so far : the magic animations are now played in real time instead of freezing the fight all the time !
 
Last edited:
Koren Lesthe said:
The game will feature the original dubbing AND the Second Evolution PSP dub. The info page states that the original dub will cover all the dialogues. Still don't know if they managed to get the US voice actors of the PS1 version to redo it but that would be great.
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Unfortunately they clarified that this only applies to the Japanese audio. They've also confirmed that for the dub only the PSP audio will be available:
 
Dunban said:
Unfortunately they clarified that this only applies to the Japanese audio. They've also confirmed that for the dub only the PSP audio will be available:
Click to expand...

Oh, thanks for the clarification, I'll edit my post then :)
 
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Koren Lesthe said:
Just read the text from the Steam page of Star Ocean: The Second Story R and got the following :
  • Non active characters can join in battle and unleash a special attack by doing so.
  • The combo system is richer.
  • While the story progression is exactly the same, new side quests have been added !
  • The original Japanese cast from the PS1 version will redo all the voices and dialogue, you will also be able to choose between it and the PSP US & Japanese voices. (thanks @Dunban )
  • Motoï Sakuraba is back with a vengeance. He grabbed all the sound team and sent them to Valhalla (he doesn't need a Valkyrie, even Odin fears him). Anyway, the complete OST have been fully reorchestrated and even added new exploration themes.
  • Just like recent Star Ocean games, you can choose your difficulty right at the start instead of having to first finish the game. The three difficulty settings are : Earth (NORMAL), Galaxy (ULTRA HARD) and Universe (LOL YOU DIED IN THE FIRST BATTLE). In classic Star Ocean fashion, the Galaxy setting sees all ennemies gets their stats multiplied by something like 1,5 and Universe by 2. Enjoy !
Happy reminder that the final boss is one of the hardest final boss ever. Sure there's strategies (some still worked in the PSP Remaster) but by following a certain sidequest, you can make the final boss even more powerful and allow him to move three times faster (I made my brother do this sidequest back then because I believed that it would make the boss weaker. Oh boi that was a mistake). And guess what ? There's a dozen hidden bosses and the final two make the final story boss look like a joke named the Iselia Queen and Gabriel Celeste who make cameos in various tri-Ace games (Valkyrie Profile, Infinite Undiscovery...).

I can't wait to go back to Expel and do so many stupid things with the Item Creation system.

Cannot Be Tamed did a nice retrospective of the PS1 game (Note : there is a spoiler warning for the events that happened at the midpoint of the game) :



EDIT :
Best addition so far : the magic animations are now played in real time instead of freezing the fight all the time !
Click to expand...

Oof, I’ve spent the last 20 years trying to forget that final boss fight! I hope it’s a bit easier in this edition of the game with the reworked combat system, I don’t think I have the patience to spend weeks retooling the team to be able to face it again.
 
PixelKnight said:
Oof, I’ve spent the last 20 years trying to forget that final boss fight! I hope it’s a bit easier in this edition of the game with the reworked combat system, I don’t think I have the patience to spend weeks retooling the team to be able to face it again.
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The boss did traumatize me too ^^;, I think outside of RPGs, he and Mizar from Jet Force Gemini were the most difficult final bosses I ever fought.

At least it allowed me to hear his battle theme (Integral Body and Imperfect Soul) which inspired me quite a lot. I really love how it makes you feel like you're going to lose and how hopeless your situation is. I cannot wait to hear the new orchestrated soundtrack, Star Ocean 2 is among my favorite OST.
 
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Bokuringo said:
Off-screen Switch footage from Gamescom. Looking pretty good I'd say.

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Does look good. I like the way the camera moves to show the environment in the most attractive angle. Seems like a fairly slow transition from battle arena back to the field though? Still, I’m really looking forward to this.
 
PixelKnight said:
Does look good. I like the way the camera moves to show the environment in the most attractive angle. Seems like a fairly slow transition from battle arena back to the field though? Still, I’m really looking forward to this.
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Now that you mention it, the transitions are really a bit slow. Hope they reduce the loading times in the remaining time they have. Other than that, we don't have to worry about the state of the Switch version from what we see here.
 
Bokuringo said:
Now that you mention it, the transitions are really a bit slow. Hope they reduce the loading times in the remaining time they have. Other than that, we don't have to worry about the state of the Switch version from what we see here.
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I agree (unlike YS X) it does look like a good version
 
Bokuringo said:
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Not surprising tho, just like Octopath Traveler 1 & 2.

From the GamesCom footage :
  • The loadings seems quite long, I hope it will be improved a bit in the final build.
  • Enemies visible in the overworld (at the very least in dungeons, as far as I know) is GREAT.
  • It seems the CPU allies can now use items on their own, just like Tales of games since Vesperia.

I preordered the game on PS5, I CAN'T wait.
 
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Square is on fire with these remakes. This looks really good

Like with Live A Live last year, this went from "never even heard of this" to "omg I need this"
 
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